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Category Archives: Texas Ash

Usually, there’s one ice event a year in northern and central Texas. So, hopefully, we’d have had it for this year. It was short lived, even though the temperatures stayed in the teens for several days and low 20’s for a couple of weeks.

Although the sun hasn’t risen very high, a Red Oak glistens.

A certain beauty comes with frosty, icy weather. At least, it’s pretty from the inside of a warm house and not on the roads.

Rose bushes planted this year are in the lower right foreground. Quite a shock to the system.

Plants low to the ground got a blast of water from the sprinkler system. That sounds crazy, but our rainfall last year was two thirds of the average. We need the moisture and didn’t know the temps were going to drop that low.

This frozen bush is Flame Acanthus.

Vitex (Vitex agnus-castus) bush still covered in seed clusters.

Chinapin Oak draped in icycles.

Don’t remember what this is, but love the jeweled look.

Mexican Feather Grass (Nassella tenuissima) looks top heavy with ice but remained upright.

Showbiz Rose still had rose buds when the cold hit.

Ice doesn’t bother seed pods and leaves of Yellow Lead Ball Tree (Leguminosae Leucaena retusa). A sprinkler head close to this Crape Myrtle created a heavy coat of ice.

The bones of a Texas Ash and a smaller Post Oak are highlighted in ice.

In November we transplanted two climbing roses from their pots. Look sad, but they’re sturdy and should survive.

In the yard, I use hardy plants that will survive our winter. Risking tender plants that will freeze is crazy, so pots are used for those that I know won’t survive. They do well in the heated shed.

Wherever you are this season, I hope the beauty of winter can be enjoyed however you please – inside or outside.

Autumn color in central Texas is definitely different than in other parts of the U.S., especially, the northeast.

The first obvious color is Prairie Flameleaf Sumac (Rhus lanceolata) that forms colonies in limestone.

The wind can quickly blow off the leaves, leaving a somewhat bare tree with its heavy seed clusters. Recently a friend of mine was trimming branches above her head and didn’t realize that she was standing in poison sumac. Made me wonder how one can tell the difference between the poisonous and nonpoisonous.

But that’s like remembering which snakes look like poisonous ones and which ones are poisonous in the heat of the moment.

So I’ll try to remember to enjoy Sumac from a distance.

One of my favorite trees in our yard is Chinese Pistache (Pistacia chinensis). It’s a pretty tree any time of the year, although it does require some shaping as the lower limbs grow downward.

Just to show how recommendations change, Chinese Pistache was once considered too invasive. Now it’s a Texas Superstar tree. In my book, it’s a winner.

Its autumn color gives me a sense of season, even if the temperatures waffle from cool to hot.

The light and wind seem to give it a different color each day.

The berries have a somber look when it’s cloudy.

Or bright and shiny when sunlight hits them.

The leaves on the Texas Maple turned yellow before the wind snatched them away. Not sure exactly which type of maple this is. The man who bought it and planted it got what was available. I should have asked more information.

With the inconsistent temperatures, the Yellow Lead Ball tree (Leucaena retusa) looks like spring and fall at the same time. The yellow puffy balls have returned while the seed pods dry and drop. This is a Texas native and has done well in our yard.

Yellow pom-poms make this a festive sight.

Red Oaks can turn a deep red or burnt orange like this one. Autumn leaves with Showbiz red roses blooming in a pot and evergreen cedars in the background – that’s our fall.

This wispy Copper Canyon Daisy (Tagetes lemmonii) tends to bloom in late summer or early fall. But this year, the flowers came late. The bush doesn’t look like much.

But up close, the bright dainty flowers are pretty. This bush has a sharp, nose wrinkling smell, so it should be planted away from the house.

A native in the Sonoran Desert of Arizona and northern Mexico, it adapts well to our soil and climate.

Re-blooming Irises have also shown their flowers late this year. The Strawberry Gompheras or Globe Amaranths (Gomphrena globosa) will continue to bloom until the first freeze.

Texas Ash (Fraxinus texensis) joins in the color parade.

Red Robins flew in for a quick visit one cloudy day. They never wear out their welcome.

Hope your fall has been colorful and enjoyable. It’s the time of year for being thankful and for spending time with friends and family.

“Being married means mostly shouting ‘What?’ from other rooms.” unknown

“This weather is crazy.” is a comment heard often around here. It is so true. Last autumn weather forecasters promised a cold and wet winter. Did not happen.

We only had one cold spell here that lasted a few days, but it was enough to freeze everything. I’ve been to the metroplex area this month. It still looks like the fall with no freeze damage at all.

It’s a little early for this bulb flower to open up. This is the third year this bulb has bloomed, and it has always been close to the ground. Still, I think it’s Vuurbaak Hyacinth ‘Fire Beacon’, which was popular with the Victorians. They’re known to bloom in early spring but should be taller.

If this ID is incorrect, I don’t know what it is.

Just a few daffodils have opened in my yard, but I’ve seen several flowerbeds in Brownwood with lots of blooms.

The Flat Leaf Parsley is already spreading. In fact, I’m not sure it died back completely.

Now to be brutally honest, the weeds, like these Henbit, are growing fast and furiously. These don’t really bother me. In fact, I heard that their presence means a well-balance soil. Doesn’t make sense to me.

And the bane of my life, Common Sowthistles (Sonchus oleraceus) are healthy and growing like weeds. Ha, ha. A recent post on Central Texas Gardener stated that these could be used to make a tea. Really?

Even some of the trees are responding to this warm weather. This Texas Ash is leafing out, which makes me nervous because we could have a late freeze. Typically (if there is any such thing in Texas) we have a freeze around Easter.

It’s not unusual for this Texas Quince to have flowers this early. In fact, it needs some cold weather.

Most of the nation is in the same boat with this winter storm. It’s cold, icy, and dangerous out there. So this is the fourth day we’ve been inside. And cabin fever has descended.

Okay. Okay. The temperatures are much colder, the winter much longer, and the ice much thicker in many northern states. But I purposely do not live in those areas.

After hearing sleet fall most of Wednesday night, on Thursday morning we awoke to what is referred to as a “winter wonderland”. Except, that white stuff is deceiving. Instead of snow, it is ice with a fine coating of snow powder.

Beside the flowerbed, there is a hidden sidewalk. It’s also a hidden menace.

Thursday was overcast and in the low 20’s. This is the first year that the Shantung Maple (Acer truncatum) has retained its yellow leaves past the heat of August. It’s a reassuring sight that I hope means its roots have become established.

This Texas Ash or Green Ash (Fraxinus pennsylvanica) also has kept its leaves through many high winds.

A snow/ice covered road on the ridge looks fun to travel on, but it’s iffy even in good weather.

Love this evergreen Cherry Laurel (Prunus caroliniana).

On Saturday the sunlight peeked out of the clouds long enough to make shadows on the white ground. This small Yaupon Holly (Ilex vomitoria) had long shadows at midday.

We didn’t slip, slide too much. In the sun, the ice had melted just enough to walk on. In the shady areas, it was still slick.

Tonight this will all freeze again. It will probably still be too treacherous to travel tomorrow.

This has been an unusual weather year for us. In January we had ice, but that’s when we usually have some cold weather and ice. In November and December we had ice storms. In my mind, the snow storm while we were in South Dakata in October counts for us, too. Now the question is: what do the coming winter months have in store for us?

Update – today, Monday, Dec. 9:

Still have the ice. Now a heavy fog and icy wind is forming ice on the trees.

If ice forms on the power lines, it could mean a power outage. It looks like we’ll be here for awhile. So glad we bought groceries and propane for the fireplace.

“Username or Password is Incorrect.” Well. At least tell me which one it is. – T shirt humor

Bio

I'm a Texan who lived, worked, and raised children in the city. In 2005 we moved to a ranch. The gardening bug has stung and left me with an itch to buy plants and swap seeds and pass-along plants. So now I'm Iearning from friends, my mistakes, and some gardening magazines how to keep them alive and other tricks of the trade in a harsh environment.